Discharge door operating mechanism

ABSTRACT

A hopper door opening and closing device for use on pivoted discharge doors and including a strut connected directly to the pivoted door and having an end connected arm and rotating shaft member. The shaft has an attached bell crank with a portion which extends outside the car and is actuated by a trackside tripping device to rotate the shaft and thereby open and close the discharge door. A pair of rotating shafts and associated door connecting members are utilized and interconnected by a fourmember linkage arrangement which permits the discharge doors to be opened and closed from either side of the moving vehicle.

United States Patent Schuller DISCHARGE DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Inventor: James J. Schuller, Crete. Ill.

Assignee: Pullman Inc0rporated,Chicago. Ill.

Filed: July 27, 1972 Appl. No.: 275,849

[52] U.S. Cl 214/63, 105/241 C, 105/250, 105/290 [51] Int. Cl B6111 7/30 [58] Field of Search 214/58, 63; 105/241 C, 250, 286, 290, 296, 299

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,149,219 8/1915 Rohlfing 105/286 X 1,547,640 7/1925 Campbell 105/250 Primary Examiner-Robert G. Sheridan Att0rney-Hilmond O. Vogel et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A hopper door opening and closing device for use on pivoted discharge doors and including a strut connected directly to the pivoted door and having an end connected arm and rotating shaft member. The shaft has an attached bell crank with a portion which extends outside the car and is actuated by a trackside tripping device to rotate the shaft and thereby open and close the discharge door. A pair of rotating shafts and associated door connecting members are utilized and interconnected by a four-member linkage arrangement which permits the discharge doors to be opened and closed from either side of the moving vehicle.

10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTH] HOV 2 01975 SHEET 10F 3 PATENTEI] am 2 0 I975 SHYU DISCHARGE DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention pertains to railway hopper vehicles having pivoted discharge gate and in particular to a door operating mechanism which is actuated by trackside mounted tripping devices.

2. Description of the Prior Art The prior an trackside door operating mechanisms have generally included an undesirable large number of parts and required very precise alignment with the car mounted and ground mounted associated operating members.

SUMMARY The present invention pertains to railway hopper cars having a pivoted discharge gate and operable by a trackside tripping device as the car moves past the stationary tripping member. The car mounted device includes a pair of rotatable shafts having handle portions extending beyond the sides of the car and engageable with the ground mounted track-side tripping device. The rotating shafts also include arms connected to door engaging strut members for opening and closing the pivoted discharge doors. A linkage interconnects the rotatable shafts to provide simultaneous rotation of each shaft and also to permit opening and closing of the discharge door from either side of the railway vehicle.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a discharge door operating mechanism which is engageable with the trackside mounted tripping device to open and close the hopper discharge door as the railway vehicle moves past and to provide a door opening and closing feature regardless of the vehicles orientation on the tracks.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a door operating mechanism including rotating shaft members having door connecting strut assemblies and also having handle portions extending beyond the car and engageable with trackside mounted tripping devices.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a trackside ground mounted tripping device having a car engaging member which is spring loaded and deflectable when the door operating mechanism has been fully actuated to either the open or the closed position.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a hopper door opening and closing mechanism having a strut and arm connection between a rotatable operating shaft and the pivoted discharge door to thereby provide a self locking over center arrangement when the doors are in the fully closed position.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from reference to the following description, attached drawings and appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a railway hopper vehicle utilizing the door operating mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view with portions removed of the hopper vehicle and door operating mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken generally along lines 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken generally along lines 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the trackside mounted tripping device used with the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the trackside tripping device illustrated in FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The hopper vehicle illustrated in FIG. 1 is an ore car and designated by the numeral 10 and is mounted on the usual wheel trucks 1 1 and includes a pair of longitudinally spaced stub center sill units 12 having the transversely extending bolsters 13 fixedly attached thereto. Ore car 10 includes a reinforced side wall unit 14 having an upper portion terminating with a reinforcing channel or top chord 15. The lower portion of the side wall unit 14 includes a side sill member 16 which extends the length of the vehicle. End slope sheet members 18 direct lading toward the discharge opening. In the portion of the discharge opening adjacent the side sill 16 is positioned a shroud 19 which extends between the side slope sheets 20 and 21 which are utilized to di rect lading towards the discharge opening. The lower edge portion of the side slope sheet 21 is reinforced with a longitudinally extending reinforcing member designated by the numeral 21a.

A pivoted discharge door is indicated by the numeral 22 and includes a lower edge portion reinforced with a longitudinally extending channel member 23. The discharge door 22 also includes a plurality of reinforcing bars 24 which are positioned transverse to the longitudinally extending reinforcing channel member 23 to further rigidify the discharge door 22. At the end of the door opening there may be positioned an end closure plate 26 which is utilized to provide a rectangular door opening.

The door actuating mechanism of the present invention includes a pair of transversely extending bar members 30, 31 interconnected with a pair of associated longitudinally extending bar members 32, 33. The bar members of the mechanism are interconnected by the connecting bell cranks 34, 34a and the modified or actuating bell cranks 35, 35a. These actuating bell cranks 35, 35a include outwardly extending handle portions 36, 26a respectively. The bell crank 34a and the modified bell crank 35a are attached to shafts 38 which are rotatably mounted in a suitable bearing which is attached to the car structure. Bar stops 37 (see FIG. 7) limit rotational movement of the actuating cranks 35, 35a.

The bell crank members 34 and 35 are rigidly attached to their associated rotating pivot actuating shafts 40. A reinforcing bracket structure 41 suspends the pivot shaft 40 from the associated mounting plate 39 to provide a rigid rotatable shaft and also provide a mounting structure for stop means (not shown) which limit over center movement of the arm 42 and strut 43. The lower portion of the shaft 40 as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 includes a rigidly attached arm member 42 extending outwardly therefrom towards the pivoted discharge door 22. A strut arm 43 is attached at one end to the arm 42 with a universal joint type of connection which is indicated at 44 and at the other end with the ball and socket connection 46 to provide for responsive movement between the rotating arm 42 and the strut 43 which receives translatory movement because it is attached to rotating members which are arranged perpendicular to each other and rotate in different planes.

The trackside mounted tripping device which is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 is designated by the numeral 50 and includes an outwardly extending pair of arm members 52 which are vertically spaced and contain a captured roller 53 in their outer portion. The arms 52 are pivotally and rotatably mounted on the upright stand portion 54 by use of the pivot hinge lugs 55. A telescoping biasing spring assembly 56 is connected with the reinforced arm members 52 and includes an outer and an inner cannister 57, 58 respectively surrounding the biasing spring which is positioned over a bolt member 59 which permits pretensioning of the spring assembly 56. The spring assembly 56 is pivotally attached to the stand 54 at 60 and also pivotally attached to the forcing arms 52 through the pivot lug unit 62. As indicated in FIGS. 6 and 7, a diagonal reinforcing strut 64 is utilized between the ground and the mounting stand to further rigidify the tripping device 50.

THE OPERATION The operation of the door operating mechanism will be made with reference to the illustration in FIG. 2 and assuming that the hopper car is moving from left to right. As the car moves past the tripping device 50 the arm 36 of the actuating bell crank 35 will engage the roller 53 of the tripping device. As the car moves to the right the associated beli crank 35 will be rotated in a clockwise direction around its pivot shaft 40. Rotation of the bell crank 35 will pull the longitudinally extending link member 32 to the left and also produce a corresponding movement in the other link members 30, 31 and 33. All four of the rotating interconnected bell crank members 34, 34a, 35, and 35a will rotate in a clockwise direction upon initiation of door opening contact between the arm 36 of the bell crank 35 and the trackside tripping device 50. As the car moves past the trackside tripping device the bell cranks will be rotated in a clockwise direction until moved to the position illustrated by the dotted line indication for the arms 36, 36a which are shown in phantom and represent the end of the bell crank rotation. Rotation of the bell cranks also produces an associated identical amount of rotation of the associated door actuating shafts 40 which produce opening and closing of the hopper door. As indicated in the lower right hand portion of FIG, 2, the combination of the actuating arm 42 and the door strut 43 is in an over center self locking position when the hopper doors are fully closed. As the bell crank 34 is initially rotated in a clockwise direction there is a matching rotation of the arm 42 which moves the arm and strut combination past the over center self locked position and permits the door 22 to open.

Referring now to FIG. 7, it is noticed that at the completion of the clockwise opening rotation of the bell crank 35 to the position illustrated in phantom as the car moves past the tripping device 50, the bell crank is prevented from additional rotation by the suitable stop 37 adjacent to the bell crank 35 and the reinforced arm members 52 will be rotated out of the way as the car moves past the tripping device 50. Rotational movement of the arms is resisted by the telescoping biasing spring assembly 56 which produces a compression of a biasing spring upon rotation of the arm members 52. This telescoping spring assembly is so designed to provide an arm reinforcing force which will maintain the arm members 52 and roller 53in position to actuate the door opening mechanism yet will permit the tripping device to retract and clear the car once the hopper doors have been fully opened.

As was mentioned in the description, a pair of trackside tripping devices 50 are provided, one on each side of the tracks and spaced apart to provide for sequential opening and closing of the hopper discharge door 22. Thus, after the door 22 has been opened and the arms 36, 36a of the actuating bell cranks 35, 350 have been moved to the phantom line positions illustrated in FIG. 2, a second trackside tripping device spaced transversely across the tracks from the tripping device illustrated in FIG. 2 and also spaced down the tracks will engage the arm 36a of the bell crank 35a when in the phantom position and move the arm to the solid line position through a counterclockwise rotation which produces a simultaneous counterclockwise rotation of the other three bell crank members and will close the hopper discharge door.

Thus it is noticed that the present invention provides an easy and reliable method for discharging a hopper car by use of a trackside tripping device which may be operative upon a hopper car regardless of the orientation of the car on the tracks which does not require a particular car end to initiate door opening. It is also pointed out that the mechanism of the present invention is not to be restricted to an ore type of car but may be used on a conventional hopper car which carries a lighter load to require a plurality of these longitudinally extending doors to discharge a number of individual hoppers.

The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate the invention and the invention is not limited thereto, except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, as those skilled in the art who have the disclosure before them will be able to make modifications and variations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A railway hopper car having coverging slope sheets for directing lading into a discharge opening and also having pivoted discharge door means mounted adjacent said discharge opening and a door operating mechanism including:

ground mounted actuating means engageable with said door operating mechanism to thereby provide power opening and closing of the door means as the hopper car moves past the ground mounted actuating means;

rotatable crank means comprising connecting crank means and actuating crank means and said actuating crank means having arm portions extending outwardly of said hopper car and thereby engageable with said actuating means; and,

a door connecting linkage comprising a rotatable arm member operatively connected with an associated rotatable crank means to thereby provide simultaneous rotation of the crank means and the arm member, and said door connecting linkage also comprising strut means connecting the rotatable arm member with said discharge door means to thereby open and close said discharge door means connecting link means joining the rotatable crank 5. The invention according to claim 1, and: said door connecting linkage including a plurality of in response to rotational movement of said crank means.

2. The invention according to claim 1, and: said ground mounted actuating means including pivoted arm means and an associated spring biasing 5 means operatively connected thereto and having said spring preloaded to provide a resisting force to operate said door operating mechanism.

3. The invention according to claim 1, and: said rotatable crank means comprising a pair of actuating bell crank members each having actuating arm portions extending outwardly of said hopper car and said actuating bell crank members positioned on opposite sides of said hopper car;

means to thereby provide simultaneous movement of the connecting crank means and the actuating crank means. 4. The invention according to claim 1, and: an operating shaft fixedly attached to said rotatable 2O crank means and to said rotatable arm member to thereby provide for vertically spaced operational movement of both the crank means and the door strut means.

connecting bar members joining the crank means and defining a closed four bar device having longitudinally extending means and laterally extending means positioned to join associated rotatable crank means and provide for the simultaneous operation of the connecting crank means and the actuating crank means.

6. The invention according to claim 2, and: the pivoted arm means of said ground mounted actu- 7. The invention according to claim 3, and:

said connecting link means fastened to the associated crank means to transfer operating forces among the bell crank members and to provide a tensile loading on the link means during operative movement thereof.

8. The invention according to claim 5, and:

a shroud portion extending transversely of said hopper car and connecting spaced slope sheets; ans one of said transversely extending bar members extending beneath said shroud.

9. A hopper device having a discharge portion closed off by a pivoted discharge gate and a gate actuating mechanism including:

gate strut means operatively attached to the gate;

rotatable arm members operatively attached to said strut means;

a plurality of gate actuating means spaced about said hopper device and including connecting crank means and actuating crank means having extension portions protruding outwardly of the hopper and said actuating means having an operative connection with the rotatable arm members to open and close said hopper door upon rotation of the actuating means;

connecting link members extending from one actuating means to another to thereby provide simultaneous operative movement of the actuating means;

power means engageable with the extension portions of the gate actuating means to provide powered opening and closing of the discharge gates.

10. The invention according to claim 9, and:

said actuating means transversely spaced about said hopper device to provide selective positioned opening and closing of said discharge gate from two sides of the hopper device;

said operative connection of the actuating means being a shaft means extending vertically downwardly from said gate actuating means. 

1. A railway hopper car having coverging slope sheets for directing lading into a discharge opening and also having pivoted discharge door means mounted adjacent said discharge opening and a door operating mechanism including: ground mounted actuating means engageable with said door operating mechanism to thereby provide power opening and closing of the door means as the hopper car moves past the ground mounted actuating means; rotatable crank means comprising connecting crank means and actuating crank means and said actuating crank means having arm portions extending outwardly of said hopper car and thereby engageable with said actuating means; and, a door connecting linkage comprising a rotatable arm member operatively connected with an associated rotatable crank means to thereby provide simultaneous rotation of the crank means and the arm member, and said door connecting linkage also comprising strut means connecting the rotatable arm member with said discharge door means to thereby open and close said discharge door means in response to rotational movement of said crank means.
 2. The invention according to claim 1, and: said ground mounted actuating means including pivoted arm means and an associated spring biasing means operatively connected thereto and having said spring preloaded to provide a resisting force to operate said door operating mechanism.
 3. The invention according to claim 1, and: said rotatable crank means comprising a pair of actuating bell crank members each having actuating arm portions extending outwardly of said hopper car and said actuating bell crank members positioned on opposite sides of said hopper car; connecting link means joining the rotatable crank means to thereby provide simultaneous movement of the connecting crank means and the actuating crank means.
 4. The invention according to claim 1, and: an operating shaft fixedly attached to said rotatable crank means and to said rotatable arm member to thereby provide for vertically spaced operational movement of both the crank means and the door strut means.
 5. The invention according to claim 1, and: said door connecting linkage including a plurality of connecting bar members joining the crank means and defining a closed four bar device having longitudinally extending means and laterally extending means positioned to join associated rotatable crank means and provide for the simultaneous operation of the connecting crank means and the actuating crank means.
 6. The invention according to claim 2, and: the pivoted arm means of said ground mounted actuating means including a pair of vertically spaced arm members and an actuating arm engaging roller means positioned to extend between the pair of arm members and provide a vertically extending contacting surface positioned for engagement with the arm portion of said actuating crank means.
 7. The invention according to claim 3, and: said connecting link means fastened to the associated crank means to transfer operating forces among the bell crank members and to provide a tensile loading on the link means during operative movement thereof.
 8. The invention according to claim 5, and: a shroud portion extending transversely of said hopper car and connecting spaced slope sheets; ans one of said transversely extending bar members extending beneath said shroud.
 9. A hopper device having a discharge portion closed off by a pivoted discharge gate and a gate actuating mechanism including: gate strut means operatively attached to the gate; rotatable arm members operatively attached to said strut means; a plurality of gate actuating means spaced about said hopper device and including connecting crank means and actuating crank means having extension portions protruding outwardly of the hopper and said actuating means having an operative connection with the rotatable arm members to open and close said hopper door upon rotation of the actuating means; connecting link members extending from one actuating means to another to thereby provide simultaneous operative movement of the actuating means; power means engageable with the extension portions of the gate actuating means to provide powered opening and closing of the discharge gates.
 10. The invention according to claim 9, and: said actuating means transversely spaced about said hopper device to provide selective positioned opening and closing of said discharge gate from two sides of the hopper device; said operative connection of the actuating means being a shaft means extending vertically downwardly from said gate actuating means. 